Ontario gun show wraps up in shadow of new gun control proposals

ONTARIO - Crossroads of the West Gun Show wrapped up on Sunday, drawing a much smaller crowd than it did the previous day.

The diminished attendance, however, did not signal any weakening of opinion among firearms enthusiasts.

"I love guns. I love hunting, and you are free in this country to go hunting," said David Guerra, a carpenter who lives in Ontario. "If they are going to take the guns away from us, what is next?"

Crossroads of the West hosted the latest of its many gun shows over the weekend at the Ontario Convention Center.

The city-owned venue has welcomed Crossroads of the West several times in the past, but this is the show's first time in Ontario since the mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school that has made gun policy a focus of national politics.

Leading Democrats including President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California responded to the shooting by calling for stricter gun laws.

Feinstein wants a new assault weapons ban that would outlaw more than 100 specific weapons and require owners of grandfathered arms to register their weapons and provide personal information to the government.

Also, Obama asked Biden to lead a group that has been directed to propose new gun policies by month's end. The vice president's group has yet to release a formal plan, but Biden and others in the administration are reported to be considering measures beyond Feinstein's proposal.

The Washington Post reported Biden's group is considering upgrades to the background checks performed on gun buyers, a new database to track gun sales and transfers, new mental health checks and stronger penalties for carrying guns near schools or providing weapons to juveniles.

Biden and others in the administration met with law enforcement leaders such as Hennepin County, Minn., Sheriff Rich Stanek.

Stanek is also president of the Major Counties Sheriffs' Association, which represents sheriffs in counties where at least 500,000 people live.

He said in a telephone interview Sunday that the association has not taken a position on any proposed weapons ban and that the conversations have yet to lead to a specific policy proposal.

Stanek also said the sheriffs' association supports the Second Amendment.

"There is no single easy fix," he said. "If you're going to discuss gun control, you also have to discuss mental health."

A major concern for law enforcement, Stanek said, is that the database officials use to process background checks lacks complete records to determine if a would-be gun buyer has a criminal record or a history of mental illness.

"These databases are overwhelmingly underpopulated because they're just not maintained," he said.

Stanek also said he and others in law enforcement are concerned about a possible correlation between explicit violence portrayed in some movies and video games and real-life crimes.

At the Ontario gun show, attendees agreed in their expectation that any gun bans would be futile when it comes to preventing criminals' access to weapons.

"Banning guns and gun control is going to do as much good as the war on drugs has done to stop the use of drugs," said Daniel Greene of Temecula.

Otherwise, attendees had varying views on the value of federal databases or other possible regulations, such as requiring gun buyers to undertake safety training.

On other issues related to possible White House proposals, Guerra said he had no reason to fear a background check.

Another show attendee, T.J. Pfautz of Temecula, said he didn't like the idea of the federal government using a gun ownership database to track Americans' personal property, but does think gun buyers should be required to take safety courses.